Alongside the Never-Fail Method

In separate sessions not connected with the writing group, I explicitly teach some skills that support the Never-Fail Method by making it more likely that the pieces learners bring to the writing group are easy for others to read and understand. I focus on end punctuation for basic literacy learners and other kinds of mechanics as needed for more advanced writers (e.g., quotation marks, apostrophes, capitalization). When learners apply those lessons to their writing, I call attention to the correct usage in my comments on their writing.

I also explicitly teach what I have come to think of as four stages of the art of writing: Think, Write, Edit, and Proofread. I break it down into these four stages to help learners see writing as a process that anyone can learn, not as a magic ability that some people have, and others don’t. Different skills are needed in each stage, and different strategies can be used in each. For more details, see What to Teach Outside the Writing Group.